I have three Series 2 Land Rovers and am currently building a Camper/overlander on a 1963 2a FC chassis using stantard Land Rover Station wagon panels and Dormobile roof/seats. Spec = stage 1 axles, lt95 box + overdrive, Perkins 4236 3.8L N/A.

Use: hopefully, overlanding, family holidays, Land Rover shows. Trips to Sahara and eastern Europe already being planned.

My question is what 900 x 16 tyres are available, which are best, where can I get them and how much do they cost? My tyres are cracked.

All help/comments gratefully recieved.

Cheers Mick

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The Simpler, the Better!

Hi,

9.00 x 16 is a difficult size to get, and getting rarer. Most of them are about 35-36" in overall diameter. I tried to get Michelin XCL in this size, but they were absurly expensive, and only the occasional one or two appeared on the market.

Michelin now make an XZL in 255/100-16, which is about 36". I'd guess also a scary price! Or you could settle for something slightly smaller, say a 33" tyre. If so, you have a wide choice of tyres that will fit on 15" rims, and a smaller set of options for 16" rims (better).

Personally, I prefer a tall, narrowish tyre, but 9.00 is very narrow. If you go for a 33", most are either 10" wide (my preference), or 12.5". The 36" Michelin XZL's I mentioned above are 10" wide.

I am using BFG MT 255/85-16 on my LR, and I am very pleased with their noise and on/off road performance. BUT, I am very unhappy with the number of punctures I have had - to date, 19 punctures in 40,000 (arduous) kilometres! And they are wearing a bit faster than I would like.

Incidentally, I have been running them with tubes, but recently I have been trying them tubeless, just to see if there is a difference...

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Michael

www.expeditionoverland.com

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Michael & Sandy
http://www.expeditionoverland.com

You will have difficulty finding good 900x16

You could use Petlas. They are available from Craddocks and are a mud terrain type tyre. Opinions vary as to if they are any good but probabily not that grippy in the wet.

You could use 255/85/16's which are available in many makes and tread patterns, these are slightly smaller than 900x16

The michelins are a good tyre but very expensive (approx £250 a tyre)

The other option would be to use wider rims (8 inch) and then you could go for some of the larger radial tyres available that are the correct height. 315/75 r 16 (34.8" tall)

watch 2nd hand ex mil tyres as they may look good but they are often brittle and will crack when aired down (just had a 10.5/20 on my 101 go on the A1 - not nice)




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Rich
LR101 300Tdi Ambi 'Tiggurr'

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Rich

Iveco Turbo Daily 4x4 40-10
Ex Owner LR101 300Tdi Ambi 'Tiggurr'

oops - forgot a bit

Are you happy with the overdrive and the torque of the diesel, I ran one on the 101 for a while but felt it was not up to the job and was likely to let me down just when I didn't need it to



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Rich
LR101 300Tdi Ambi 'Tiggurr'

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Rich

Iveco Turbo Daily 4x4 40-10
Ex Owner LR101 300Tdi Ambi 'Tiggurr'

I could be barking up the wrong tree here, but inside the BFGs there are usually 1 or 2 small stickers, if these stickers are not removed they will rub through the tube causing puctures regulary, next time you open them up make sure you have nothing stuck to the inside of your tyre.

Col Campbell

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An aussie escaped from london, now in Dubai.

Thanks for the info. Re the overdrive. Lots of differant opinions on this one and as she is not yet on the road, I am open to all information. I only intend to use the overdrive as a motorway gear and this would hopefull reduce the load???? I am very interested in what happens when these units fail. Do they damage the gearbox, when they fail??? Were you using the overdrive with the standard V8 in the 101??

Cheers Mick

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The Simpler, the Better!

Woops Just noticed you have a TDi in the 101. The tdi and the 4236 have about the same torque, but the tdi has more bhp and the 4236 has its max torque at lower rpm. Do you think the lower BHP of the 4236 will reduce the load on the overdrive???

Cheers Mick

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The Simpler, the Better!

Good tip, CC. Whne the tubes were first fitted, the dealer didn't take off the stickers, and after each virgin puncture (if you get my drift), I removed the stickers from the inside of the tyre.

However, most of my punctures have had obvious causes - a nail or something similar, or, in TWO cases, a ruddy great bolt straight through the tread. There are a quite few mystery punctures, because when a rear tyre goes, it often isn't noticeable until it has deflated almost completely, and ripped the tube (it's a 6x6). In those cases, if the culprit isn't still in the tyre itself, I am left wondering what caused it.

So far so good on the tubeless configuration, though - a few thousand km without any punctures so far, so I am cautiously optimistic.

Still defies any logical explanation I can think of, though. If I had run tubeless from the start, would I have tyres that look like pincushions by now, bristling with nails and other arbitrary bits of debris, but all of them perfectly sealed by the tyres??

I am just enjoying the break, and trying not to think too hard!

Regards,

Michael...
www.expeditionoverland.com

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Michael & Sandy
http://www.expeditionoverland.com

On the tubes versus no tubes thing:

Don't mount tubes in the BFG's! Talk to overlanders who did, and all end up having punctures (at least one every couple 1000 kms), talk to overlanders who didn't, and generally you'll find no punctures at all.

If you don't feel completely secure about tubless, take spare tubes, but don't mount them.

Those I talked with: 2 cars with tubes at least 4 punctures before reaching Senegal, 3 without tubes, no punctures till Mali, 1 without tubes, no punctures coming up from South Africa till Mauritania.

It's simple, really.

Rob

Mick

I took it off cos of the concern about complications, just having another 'gearbox' on the truck that could fail

Remember these overdrives were built for high revving V8's not low reving/ High torque at low revs diesels so I would question if they are up to the torque.

If ot fails you cannot guarentee anyything - more than likely it will ot damage the transfer box so you could carry the gears, bearings and plate to take the overdrive off if it fails

Also

Check the intermediate shaft bearings as they have a habit of breaking up and carry some as spares.

was it you I was talking to about showers earlier this year?



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Rich
LR101 300Tdi Ambi 'Tiggurr'

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Rich

Iveco Turbo Daily 4x4 40-10
Ex Owner LR101 300Tdi Ambi 'Tiggurr'

HI Rich

Yes it was me you were taking to regarding the shower and I still want one, but have not yet restarted rebuilding the FC. I have a few complications with the broken pelvis and building a new workshop has taken longer than I hoped. Its up now and I should get all the wiring done over Xmas. Hard to weld with no power!

Re: the overdrive. When I get her back on the road, I will see how she goes and then make a discision??? If does break, being a camper, I will have a kettle and bed for the night.

Merry xmas to all and I wish you all the best on your travels throughout 2004

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The Simpler, the Better!

Some other comments on the BFG Mud Terrain and tubes versus no tubes:

I have both experiences with and without tubes.
If your rims are suitable for tubeless, drive as long as you can without tubes! Take tubes and a Compressor with you. I started driving tubeless because of lots of punctures with the BFG. We drove tubeless from the Netherlands to Dakar using the Mud Terrain 255/85-16, a lot of desert driving through Mauritania and very stony tracks and did not have any puncture!

The BFG Mud Terrain is not designed for tubes. But there is a solution! In my opinion the problem with the punctures is related to two things.
(1) The inside of the tire is very rough compared to for example a Michelin XS resulting in a lot of wear of the tubes.
(2) Most people (including myself in the past) use tubes which don’t fit correctly and are poor quality. If you fit a normal 7.50-16 or 8.25-16 tube into a 255/85-16 you don’t have to wait long for the first puncture!
A tube which is used for professional off-road equipment will solve the problem! They are much thicker quality and are available in sizes that fit better. I might sound strange but an 11.5/0.80-TR15.3 will cure the problem. This size is a little smaller than 16’’ but that doesn’t matter in this case.

Now I’m driving tubes again. The reason is that I had two flat tubeless tires because of low tire pressure and sticky mud between tyre and the rim during extreme off-roading. And I had two other punctures because of nails. I switched to the 11.5/0.80-TR15.3 tubes and since then I didn’t have any punctures!

Joost

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jabbawocky:
[B]Woops Just noticed you have a TDi in the 101. The tdi and the 4236 have about the same torque, but the tdi has more bhp and the 4236 has its max torque at lower rpm. Do you think the lower BHP of the 4236 will reduce the load on the overdrive???

I would be more concerned with the torque on the overdrive at low engine revs. Compare the torque curve of your engine to that of a v8, I guess you'll see v8 torque at alot higher revs

What transfer ratios are you using in the LT95 as there are 4 sets at least (as the perkie is a low revving engine I would have thought you want the very last of the range rover 4 speed ones which are the highest available - can supply part numbers ,no of teeth etc if you want to check



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Rich
LR101 300Tdi Ambi 'Tiggurr'

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Rich

Iveco Turbo Daily 4x4 40-10
Ex Owner LR101 300Tdi Ambi 'Tiggurr'

Joost,

Thnaks for the useful info - makes good sense, especially as I am using stock 8.25-16 tubes. Early to tell for sure, but so far, only one puncture in the tubeless tyres, so each time I have a tube punctured, I fix the tube (as a spare) and refit the tyre tubeless...

When I reach the States, I will investigate getting some better quality tubes too.

Regards,

Michael

www.expeditionoverland.com

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Michael & Sandy
http://www.expeditionoverland.com

HI Rich

I was told that the gearboxes are already fitted with the 0.962 gear set, but I am new to the LT95 and would not know one gear set from another. The info on the number of teeth and part numbers of all the gear sets would be realy useful. I have two gearboxes and intend to build a good one out of the two.

Still want a shower unit.

Re: Tyres. I am trying to build the FC to appear that it was built like this in 1963. I realy want to use standard looking LR wheels. I have the original 2a FC wheels on at present. Did LR make any wheels which are wider than the set I have already and with at least the same offset. If not are there any other wheels that would suit the FC.

Cheers Mick

[This message has been edited by Jabbawocky (edited 14 January 2004).]

[This message has been edited by Jabbawocky (edited 14 January 2004).]

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The Simpler, the Better!